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FlyDubai captain said he had “one more fight left in me” and opened cockpit door

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Barabas, P. (2026, October 4). FlyDubai captain said he had “one more fight left in me” and opened cockpit door. Euronews. https://www.euronews.com/2026/10/04/flydubai-captain-said-he-had-one-more-fight-left-in-me-and-opened-cockpit-door

Dated when The Aporia collected the article, usually within hours of publication. Check the original for its exact date and byline.

Euronews · collected 2026-10-04 · by Peter Barabas

Quick Summary

Captain Smit Machchhar of FlyDubai described to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu how he fought off an attacking co-pilot on flight FZ1073, saving the lives of 174 passengers and six crew members. During a critical moment when his vision was badly blurred from repeated blows, Captain Machchhar managed to open the cockpit door with "a sharp, quick turn" after multiple failed attempts, allowing passengers to enter and subdue the co-pilot. Netanyahu praised Machchhar as a hero and invited him to light a celebratory flame on Israel’s next Independence Day.
Written by AI on 2026-10-04, from this article's own text only (the story summary below draws on all the coverage).

AI analysis

Story summary

On September 30, 2026, a Flydubai flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv signaled an emergency and was diverted to land at Tabuk airport in Saudi Arabia. The incident initially raised concerns about a possible hijacking, prompting Israel to scramble warplanes. However, Israeli officials later reported that the emergency signals were due to a physical altercation between the plane's two pilots rather than a hijacking attempt.

The flight, identified as Flydubai Flight FZ1073, transmitted multiple emergency alerts after takeoff and over Jordanian airspace before landing safely in Saudi Arabia. Passengers on board managed to overpower the attacker, who was later identified by UAE officials as Omani co-pilot Hamam al-Hammami. Al-Hammami allegedly attempted to crash the plane into Tel Aviv's airport but was stopped by passengers.

UAE Attorney-General Hamad Saif al-Shamsi stated that signs of al-Hammami’s radicalization first emerged in 2017 while he was studying engineering at RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia. He reportedly became influenced by extremist literature and online content glorifying terrorist organizations during this period.

Written for “Flydubai Hijacker's Radicalization Path” on 2026-11-05, grounded in this article and the 345 other(s) covering the same event.

Story

📰 Flydubai Hijacker's Radicalization Path
Crime & Law · 346 article(s) covering the same event. See how they differ ↓

Compared with similar articles

This article reads unscored and hedges 6% of its claims. Each row says how that neighbour differs.
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The Straits Times
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South China Morning Post
Hedges 3 of 4 claims Outlet record 62/100
The Straits Times
Hedges 1 of 14 claims Outlet record 66/100
Dawn
Hedges 6 of 28 claims Outlet record 72/100
CBS News
Hedges 0 of 3 claims Outlet record 65/100
BBC News
Hedges 0 of 14 claims Outlet record 66/100
ABC News (US)
Hedges 2 of 29 claims Outlet record 67/100
The Guardian
Hedges 2 of 16 claims Outlet record 66/100
How this article was measured signals, leaning charts, publisher record, byline, topics and claims

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted
18
sentences that state something as happening or true
Uncertain
6%
1 of 18 hedged ("reportedly", "may", "according to")
Leaning
not political
takes no side on a contested political question
Publisher signals
60/100
Euronews's corrections and hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.
Outlets on this story
346
Crime & Law
Same framing elsewhere
1
articles that frame the event the way this one does
Analyzed 2026-10-04 · how these are computed

How this is being covered How these are calculated →

Article leaning vs. publisher reliability
Source leaning vs. consistency

Publisher

Euronews · 1207 article(s) · 1 correction(s) detected
Running correction rate · 1 correction(s)

Who wrote this

Peter Barabas
17 article(s) here · 1 carrying a prediction
🔮 It comes as urgent diplomatic efforts continue to avoid a new all-out Iran war, which would have devastating consequences for the Middle East and beyond.
🔮 Against the backdrop of growing speculation over the last weeks that the US and Israel may launch a new attack against Iran before or after the mid-term elections in the US and next week’s elections in Israel, a new US Department of State travel alert issued on Wednesday evening was relayed by news agencies and wider media as an urgent signal as to the imminence of war restarting, with the Gulf nations bearing the brunt of a potentially larger conflict.
🔮 French President Emmanuel Macron issued a stern warning on Wednesday in Doha about the Gulf's fragile security situation, urging “extreme caution” to avoid escalating tensions that could reignite conflict, after talks with Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani.
🔮 Qatar will soon announce a new defence partnership, Deputy Prime Minister Sheikh Saoud bin Abdulrahman Al Thani said on Monday, while also calling for talks and closer economic ties with Iran to prevent further conflict.
🔮 “Iran and groups supportive of Iran may target other US interests overseas or at locations associated with the United States and Americans throughout the world, including US businesses and other institutions,” the alert said.
🔮 Netanyahu asked him if the door was closed with a pin mechanism and the captain answered that on the inside of the cockpit the door had a twist handle and that from the outside it could be opened with a code. Machchhar remembered hearing the whooshing sound of the aircraft plunging downwards and the passengers screaming. Realising what was happening, he told Netanyahu how he reached for the internal twist handle and with “a sharp, quick turn” managed to finally open the door, letting the passengers in who subdued the co-pilot and stabilised the plane. The Israeli prime minister told him that he is a hero with “an unbelievable courage, inviting him and Indian prime minister Narendra Modi to light a celebratory flame on Israel’s next Independence Day, the highest honour usually reserved for Israeli citizens.
🔮 Hailed as a global hero for saving the passengers, Machchhar said "I was fighting for my life," adding that "when I was lying on the floor I could feel the aircraft was going down.
🔮 Iran’s foreign minister has proposed a seven-day roadmap to Washington by which Iran would reopen the Strait of Hormuz within seven days if the US lifts its naval blockade, together with other conditions aimed at ending the war.
🔮 But moving on, Trump said the US and China were working towards “more balanced” trade relations and that their talks would focus on foreign affairs, trade, financial cooperation, security and artificial intelligence which they identified as a major topic.
🔮 No treaty sets out what a state may do when it is attacked through a network rather than by a weapon.
Also by Peter Barabas
Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.
All 17 articles by Peter Barabas →

Topics

FZ1073 FlyDubai Israel Israeli UAE

Subjects

Israeli NORP · 5× Machchhar PERSON · 5× Netanyahu PERSON · 5× UAE GPE · 4× Israel GPE · 3× FlyDubai ORG · 2× Smit Machchhar PERSON · 2× Telegraph ORG · 2× Benjamin Netanyahu PERSON · 1× Benjanim Netanyahu PERSON · 1×

Narrative

Israeli Ambassador to the UAE Yossi Shelley was at his bedside during the call and together with Netanyahu invited Machchhar and his family to visit Israel as soon as he is able, to receive the embrace and love that the entire country wants to give him. Dubai's Crown Prince and UAE Minister of Defence Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid also visited Machchhar in hospital hailing the captain’s bravery, stating that he “embodied the highest degrees of courage, responsibility, and care for human life.
framing: assertive · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-10-04
🔮 Netanyahu asked him if the door was closed with a pin mechanism and the captain answered that on the inside of the cockpit the door had a twist handle and that from the outside it could be opened with a code. Machchhar remembered hearing the whooshing sound of the aircraft plunging downwards and the passengers screaming. Realising what was happening, he told Netanyahu how he reached for the internal twist handle and with “a sharp, quick turn” managed to finally open the door, letting the passengers in who subdued the co-pilot and stabilised the plane. The Israeli prime minister told him that he is a hero with “an unbelievable courage, inviting him and Indian prime minister Narendra Modi to light a celebratory flame on Israel’s next Independence Day, the highest honour usually reserved for Israeli citizens.

Claims (18 extracted, 1 hedged)

FlyDubai hero captain Smit Machchhar described to Israeli prime minister Benjanim Netanyahu how the attack started and how he managed to finally open the cockpit door after nearly losing his vision under the co-pilot’s repeated blows. asserted
he → describe → blows
The FlyDubai hero captain revealed new details of his fight to save the passengers aboard flight FZ1073 in an emotional telephone conversation with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, released by his office on Saturday evening. asserted
captain → reveal → evening
Captain Smit Machchhar told Netanyahu he felt he had “one more fight left” in him when in a critical state he reached for the cockpit door once again to save the 174 passengers and 6 crew members, while the co-pilot kept attacking him and putting the aircraft in a steep defence. asserted
pilot → tell → defence
He described how the attack started saying that the co-pilot asked to pray in the cockpit which he did not consider an unusual request and “and out of respect for him, I didn’t look back.” asserted
I → describe → him
“A few minutes later, I felt a strong impact and thought something had happened to the plane. asserted
something → feel → plane
But then I was hit again and realized it was him. asserted
it → hit → ?
I opened the cockpit door once, but he closed it, and I fell to the floor,” the captain said. asserted
captain → open → floor
Machchhar said his vision became badly blurred and he felt how the aircraft went into a steep descent. asserted
aircraft → say → descent
He tried to open the cockpit door once again, but the co-pilot kept closing it while passengers were trying to get in using the access code. asserted
passengers → try → code
Netanyahu asked him if the door was closed with a pin mechanism and the captain answered that on the inside of the cockpit the door had a twist handle and that from the outside it could be opened with a code. Machchhar remembered hearing the whooshing sound of the aircraft plunging downwards and the passengers screaming. Realising what was happening, he told Netanyahu how he reached for the internal twist handle and with “a sharp, quick turn” managed to finally open the door, letting the passengers in who subdued the co-pilot and stabilised the plane. The Israeli prime minister told him that he is a hero with “an unbelievable courage, inviting him and Indian prime minister Narendra Modi to light a celebratory flame on Israel’s next Independence Day, the highest honour usually reserved for Israeli citizens. uncertain
he → ask → citizens
I wish you a very speedy and complete recovery," Netanyahu told captain Machchhar. asserted
Netanyahu → wish → Machchhar
Israeli Ambassador to the UAE Yossi Shelley was at his bedside during the call and together with Netanyahu invited Machchhar and his family to visit Israel as soon as he is able, to receive the embrace and love that the entire country wants to give him. Dubai's Crown Prince and UAE Minister of Defence Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid also visited Machchhar in hospital hailing the captain’s bravery, stating that he “embodied the highest degrees of courage, responsibility, and care for human life. asserted
he → invite → life
“From us, and from the leadership of the nation, he has our full appreciation and praise. asserted
he → have → appreciation
We are proud that he is part of our team, part of the story of our nation and part of what the UAE stands for a nation of compassion, a nation of peace and a nation of life,” Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed said. asserted
Mohammed → stand → life
In a new development on Sunday, British newspaper The Telegraph reported that the FlyDubai flight copilot, named by multiple media outlets as Omani national Hamam al-Hammami, studied aviation at the UK-based Buckinghamshire New University. asserted
copilot → report → University
The Telegraph said that during his time at the university, al-Hammami commented in social media posts that women should be “stomped on” and praised giving a woman a “pre-emptive slap.” asserted
women → say → slap
He also appeared to praise Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, The Telegraph said. asserted
Telegraph → appear → Ukraine
The co-pilot used a crash axe against the captain and “attempted to carry out a terrorist attack”, the United Arab Emirates’ prosecutor general said on Saturday, while the UAE president's diplomatic adviser Dr Anwar Gargash called the incident "a dangerous terrorist act". asserted
adviser → use → incident
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